Bon Iver

Festival Big Top, Galway Thurs 8pm €35.50 091-566577

Every once in a while some totally obscure artist manages to not only peek over the parapet but also have people peek back at them. One such person is Justin Vernon, a Wisconsin-based singer-

songwriter who spent three cold months in the winter of 2006 holed up in his father’s cabin in the depths of the Wisconsin woods, and came up with an album that has since become something of a hit.

As befits someone who is a fan of Northern Exposure(the escapist Alaskan fantasy television series), Vernon – or, as his deliberately misspelled French stage name has it, Bon Iver – has a quirky yet serious take on loneliness. This is, best exemplified on the aforementioned album, For Emma, Forever Ago, which touched a raw nerve with its themes of love lost and isolation. A redemptive gig, then? Well, makes a nice change, doesn't it?

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